Core Concepts: 

Growth Mindset - As the video outlined, some of the key points to remember about growth mindsets include:

- Mindsets affect all aspects of the culture of a classroom and school

- Mistakes should be valued and seen as learning opportunities

- It is important to celebrate accomplishments and mistakes

- How students perceive themselves greatly affects their motivation and ability to learn 

- Having a growth mindset is not just about students putting in effort; it is also about providing them with strategies so that they can grow and learn

- There are many different strategies that teachers can use to improve their own mindset and to promote growth mindsets in their students

- Growth mindsets will make students feel empowered and they will achieve more academically and socially​

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** There is a good Open Educational Resource lesson plan for teaching middle school students about having a growth mindset, which you can download by clicking here.

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Fixed Mindset - A person with a fixed mindset believes that you are either born smart or dumb. You can not improve or grow. Students with a fixed mindset may become withdraw or disengaged.​ Please see the diagram below which shows the differences between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset:

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For more in-depth information about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, please see this Open Educational Resource, entitled "Fixed Vs. Growth Mindset: Critical Thinking" by N. Alsbrook-Jackson.

 

Strategies to Promote A Growth Mindset - Today's lesson video outlined several strategies that could be used to promote a growth mindset in your students. There are many other strategies you could use. For a bit more information about the strategies, see the article entitled, "Ten Ways To Instill A Growth Mindset in Students" by Marcus Guido (2016).

 

To review, here are the strategies that were outlined in the video:

1. Think about the words you use when giving praise

2. Teach students how to critique themselves and others

3. Give students choice in how to show their learning

4. Use assessment as a learning tool and allow retesting

5. Don't underestimate the power of "Not Yet"

6. Use more descriptive feedback

7. Use technology as an assessment tool

8. Celebrate mistakes!

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Test Your Own Mindset: Now that you have learned a little bit about what a growth mindset and a fixed mindset are, do you wonder what type of mindset you have? If so, try this quiz. After taking the quiz, you may want to also watch the videos that are found below the quiz. They both have lots of great information to share.

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Videos: In the lesson video, I referred to two videos that are excellent resources to give you the background information about the growth mindset concept. Please watch these two videos found below now:

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